'Homeland': Fighting terrorism on TV

Six episodes in and pulling huge ratings for a freshman show, “Homeland,” the new face of counterterrorism on cable, is this decade’s answer to “24.”

The Showtime drama, starring Claire Danes and “Band of Brothers” alum Damian Lewis, looks at how the war on terror has become increasingly complex 10 years after Sept. 11. U.S. engagement abroad has changed dramatically, Osama bin Laden is dead, and the state of the economy, not national security, is dominating the airwaves. “Homeland” reflects that change as CIA agents try to keep their work in the conversation.

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“The country is in a very different place right now. We are aware that the terrorism threat still lurks, but we have a more nuanced attitude toward it,” David Nevins, president of entertainment at Showtime, told POLITICO. “Certainly, in the very early days after Sept. 11, when Jack Bauer was first being written, there was no awareness of any of the costs. It was a do-whatever-it-takes attitude.”

Nevins, who oversaw production for “24” when he was president of Imagine Television, is part of a pack of “24” alums behind “Homeland.” The show’s co-creators, Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon, also served as executive producers for the real-time series.

A nail-biting psychological thriller, “Homeland” is adapted from “Hatufim,” an Israeli drama centered on two prisoners of war returning home from Syria. The American version focuses on a lone POW and stars Danes as Carrie Mathison, a CIA agent and Middle East terrorism expert.

While in Iraq, Mathison learned that an American POW’s allegiances were turned by Al Qaeda and is covertly working for the enemy. Soon after, Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody, played by Lewis, is found after eight years as an Al Qaeda POW. Mathison, suffering from bipolar disorder and on probation after her unauthorized work in Iraq, is convinced that Brody, the war hero, is the turned POW.

On adapting “Hatufim” for American eyes, Gansa told POLITICO with a laugh, “We thought, ‘Change the names and put it on American television, and we will be fine.’”

“But the situation is quite different,” he elaborated. “We are oceans away from the wars we are fighting. We didn’t think a couple returning POWs would be enough to sustain a series here. We thought the show needed the idea that one of these soldiers had been turned, the thriller aspect of it.”

Along with the rapid-fire pace and tense plot twists that “24” fans are used to is a spotlight on military families. When Brody returns to Washington after eight years, his family life has fallen apart. His wife is having an affair with his best friend, and his son greets him with a handshake and uncomfortably declares, “It’s nice to meet you.”